test," I said. "And you'll have to get me a wig." Smug I was, even though they also say that fools rush in where angels fear to tread.

About two weeks later one of the nurses came to see me and said, “To- morrow night."

"Tomorrow night?" I repeated, struggling between elation and fear.

"Yes. Tomorrow night there is a party in our recreation hut for the new girls who arrived yesterday. You'll be a new girl to the oldies, and an oldie to the new girls. Only you and the four of us know." I was al- most non-plussed, but managed to protest about not having a wig. But that had been organized too. One of the girls, on a 24-hour pass had hired a wig from the costume department of the old Tivoli Theater, a review house in Sydney, and now demolished. (I wonder if any ex- G.I.'s reading this will remember the Tiv?) There was no way out. Se- cretly I was elated, of course. But equally scared. That evening while I was on duty in intensive care, the four girls came in towards lights-out to discuss the details. They had a workable plan to get me into their quarters to dress, and to spirit me away afterwards. I forget the details but they are not important, now.

"Whose uniform will I wear?" I asked.

“Uniform nix. It's a civvies do." Better and better, I thought.

Came the night, and I was hurried into the nurses' quarters. Spread out on a bed were the clothes which I was to wear. Remember the styles of the forties? . . nipped waists, puffed sleeves with buttoned cuffs, draped bodices. They were supposed to be the ultimate in feminity in a world that was very, very drab.

"I'm not going to wear that girdle!" I protested.

"Oh yes you are. We need it to pin pads to to give you some hips." And from a locker one of the girls produced some sterilizing bags, cut and sewn to shape and stuffed with cotton dressing. Falsies had been similarly made. The girls had been thorough. I don't think I protested too much. The girls certainly didn't show any signs that they suspected this to be more than just a lark for me, but there was no doubt that they were enjoying the whole thing.

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